All is well, says Dr Wan Azizah as Pakatan prepares for Permatang Pauh

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today dismissed talks that the strained relationship among Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties over PAS's hudud plans will harm their cooperation in the impending Permatang Pauh by-election.

"Our cooperation is good," the PKR president told reporters at an event to fete Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) achievers in Permatang Pauh.

"When it comes to the crunch, we are together (in facing) all the injustices of the Barisan Nasional government."

Asked to comment on Permatang Pauh Umno division chief Datuk Zaidi Mohd Said's remark that BN would stand a better chance in winning the seat if she was the one fielded by PKR, Dr Wan Azizah said the ultimate decision was up to the voters.

"The voters will decide on the candidate who is picked. The winner will be of their choosing," she said.

Zaidi had commented that voters knew of Dr Wan Azizah's performance as MP when she held the seat for three terms, after her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's jailing in 1998, until her resignation in 2008 to allow him to win back the seat.

Dr Wan Azizah, now the Kajang state representative, has been tipped to be the PKR candidate to defend the seat against Umno

PKR Youth deputy chief and Penang party information chief, Dr Afif Bahardin, said the choice of candidate for Permatang Pauh was not the issue.

He said the party had yet to decide since the Election Commission (EC) would not announce the nomination and polling dates until April 8.

He said Permatang Pauh PKR had submitted some names but declined to reveal more details.

"We started working on the ground since February 10 after the Federal Court upheld the verdict against Anwar.

"We will give BN a tough time... they had been recycling their politics," he said, citing as examples the jailing of Anwar for the second time, the use of political conspiracies against PR, laws to detain and silent critics, and racial politics.

Dr Afif, who is the Seberang Jaya assemblyman, said apart from Anwar's imprisonment, PR would focus on problems faced by the people such as the goods and services tax (GST) which came into force on Wednesday.

"The tax that affects the lower income groups and young professionals just starting out and building families around Malaysia will be one of the central issues in the by-election.

"For PR, our priority are the people, the economy, reform and the fight against injustice. These are important issues that must be addressed," he said, adding that the hudud issue would not be a problem.

"PKR does not reject hudud. I believe the people know our stand on this. Hudud is not a priority although we respect PAS's right to implement it in Kelantan.

"Reform is our common policy in PR, not hudud," he said.

Dr Afif said PR would also look into women and gender equality issues as majority of voters in Permatang Pauh are women.

Asked if that meant PKR was more likely to field a female candidate, he said it would depend on the party leadership.

Dr Afif said at the Penang PR's secretariat meeting last night, all three parties in Penang agreed to work together.

He said PR leaders at the national level had also expressed their commitment to remain in the opposition coalition.

"If there are worries of sabotage against PR in the by-election, I am more concerned that it will come from the other side in the form of phantom voters," he said.

Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia today quoted an unnamed "top Penang PAS leader" as urging party members not to campaign for PKR due to disagreement over hudud.

Following the tabling and passing of the Shariah Criminal Code II Enactment amendment at the Kelantan legislative assembly on March 19, PKR said PAS failed to respect the pact with PR.

In a statement signed by Dr Wan Azizah, deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, secretary-general Rafizi Ramli, Women chief Zuraida Kamaruddin and Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, PKR said Kelantan PAS should have consulted PR partners first before pushing its plan for hudud in the state.

They said PAS went beyond the agreement with its PR allies to "agree to disagree" over the issue of hudud, by tabling almost an entirely new enactment at the Kelantan state assembly instead of just a few changes as it originally said it would.

The hudud controversy led to DAP's announcement that it was cutting ties with PAS president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, after the latter said he would personally table the private member’s bill on hudud in Parliament. – April 4, 2015.